Daughter of the Dark
by blaise311
Summary: Harry Potter is starting his seventh year at Hogwarts, angry, and hurting. But then comes along a new girl, mysterious and beautiful, who claims to be part of one of the most powerful pureblood family in the world...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Harry climbed sullenly aboard the Hogwarts Express. For the third year in a row, neither Ron, nor Hermione would be sitting with him. Hermione, as expected, had received her head girl's badge when she was visiting the burrow, and had talked about nothing since. Ron, on the other hand, was going back as a third year prefect. Harry had a nasty feeling that if Ron hadn't been chosen as Head Boy, Malfoy almost certainly had. Still, there was nothing he could do about that. He was still angry at Dumbledore, and the rest of the world for that matter, for the horrible stories he had had to put up with about himself the last year.

Harry sighed, and went looking for Ginny. She and he had become good friends over the summer, though not anything more. She was pretty, he would admit that, and a damn good flier, but he felt nothing for her. In fact, ever since his three month relationship with Susan Bones, a pretty petite Hufflepuff, he hadn't really been interested in anyone. It might have to do with the fact that the Daily Prophet was spreading word about how he was and evil and dark wizard, for trying to clear Sirius's name or maybe that all of the girls that he knew (other than Hermione of course, and sometimes Ginny) were kind of like versions of Cho. All were interested in the same thing…Makeup…Hair….Gossip. And frankly, he didn't want to here it.

Then he remembered…Ginny was a prefect. She hadn't been one in her fifth year, but after what happened to the poor little Anna, she had been the only one who would take the position. Damn. That meant that he'd have to either sit with Neville or Luna. Or not. It wasn't that Harry didn't like them, they were really great people. Luna had even given up on her corkscrew necklace. It was just that, he wasn't really in the mood to listen to Luna's stories.

In fact, he wasn't really in the mood for talking to anyone at the moment. He was exhausted. The Dursleys had worked him to the bone. They knew he wouldn't complain, and Dumbledore hadn't sent anyone to threaten them like he had at the end of fifth year. So he had worked, and at that harder than ever. And when he hadn't been working, he had been reading. Reading everything he could find about spells, curses, defence techniques. Harry had figured that since he would have to meet Voldemort and all, he had better start cracking. In fact, in the last year, he had almost become as bad as Hermione. He had even picked up Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes. Now that had been a pain in the ass. After missing three years, it was a wonder that he had even passed the damn midterms. But he had passed them, and he had done well…very well actually, third in both classes, only tailing behind Hermione and Malfoy.

Speaking of Malfoy, he had better not hurt Hermione, or else there would be hell to pay. Harry still couldn't believe that Dumbledore had let Mal-ferret back into the school after the whole thing with Anna, but he had. And now he would probably be living with Hermione. Actually, Malfoy probably wasn't the main problem. What with Hermione being muggleborn and all, he probably wouldn't touch her, or at least not seriously….Zabini, on the other hand, hit on everything that had two legs and a good rack. And whether Harry wanted to deny it or not, Hermione was a rather pretty witch. She had finally found some spell that made her hair look all smooth and shiny. That, added with her pretty face, and (now) small teeth, meant that lots of guys were after her. And he, for one, knew that a certain seventeen year old Weasley was very interested, even though Hermione didn't know it. If Zabini ruined it between her and Ron…well, let's just say Harry had worked on his jinxes over the summer.

Harry sighed, and looked through the compartments. They were practically all full. Full with happy people, and their happy friends. He ducked down to avoid being seen by Neville and Luna, the former who was listening to the latter talk about her theory that Ollivander was hiding a herd of banshees in his store, and promptly swerved into the boys bathroom upon spotting Cho and her horrible friend Marietta walking back to their compartment with a cart full of candy. Once the coast was clear, he sighed, and started walking down the hall, only to bump into the back of a small blond. Shit. Now this was the last person Harry wanted to talk to. Hannah had taken their brake up rather hard (he had dated her two months before moving on to Susan), and had a tendency to start sobbing and pleading for Harry to take her back whenever she saw him. He groaned, and, before she could turn around, yanked the door of the nearest compartment open, muttered _collaportus,_ threw himself flat against the door…

………………………………………………….

Zarah Evans woke up with a lurch. She had been sleeping, trying to get over jet leg from the nine hour flight she had taken the day before. And now some random guy had just marched….no, more like dived, into her compartment. Great. Now she was going to be cranky on her first day, as if she wasn't already pissed off enough from another of her long fights with her father. She sighed, and decided to pretend like she was asleep. Maybe the stupid kid would just get out if he found nothing interesting. Damn. He wasn't leaving. In fact, he looked like he was about to lie down and doze off himself. Fine. If the kid was going to be random, it was his business. Who the hell did he think he was, anyways? He had short, messy-black hair, and glasses that obviously needed replacing. He was pretty tall, about 6"1, she guessed, tanned and muscled. Not bad. Not too bad at all.

Then Zarah noticed the lightening shaped scar. He was Harry Potter. Woah. This was the guy her father had told her about. He was all part of the plan. She needed to become friends with him. She sighed, analyzing him. He didn't have any friends around, though according to her information, there should be at least one Weasley around, and a girl named Hermione. And on second notice, he looked, well, exhausted. There were some deep rings around his eyes, and, to be able to fall asleep on a moving train in front of a strange girl in less than three minutes…now that was talent. Either talent or pure exhaustion. Zarah sighed, wondering whether to wake him up. On one hand, that would really help her. On the other hand, that might make him pissed off, or cranky, or something like that. Her father had warned her about Harry's mood swings too.

Zarah sighed, and made up her mind. It would be best to get him while he was here. After all, it was he who hand barged into her compartment. What made him think that she would let him sleep? She grinned suddenly. This might to be funner than she thought. Poor Harry. It almost made her feel sorry for him. Almost being the key word.

…………………………………………

Harry groaned as he felt himself being shaken awake. He was having such a good rest, and really did not feel like waking up from it.

"Go 'way Aunt Petunia. I'll finish the rose bushes in a couple of minutes…"

"I'm afraid I'm not you're Aunt Petunia. Actually, I don't know whether to be insulted or not, being mistaken for an aunt."

A girl, no…a woman, had just spoken. One with a low, sweet voice. Harry groaned and snapped his green eyes open, sitting up. There sitting before him, was a stunning girl. He'd never seen her before, although she was much too old to be a first year. Her long raven hair fell against a good body, framing a bold face and beautiful eyes. Green eyes. Woah.

"Who are you?"

"Depends on where I am in the world. Here though, I'm Zarah…Zarah Hawkins."

"You're not a first year, are you? I've never seen you before. And you've got a strange accent.''

The girl chuckled. "Nope, not a first year. Seventh, actually, same as you I believe. And I have a 'strange' accent because I'm from the United States."

"The U.S.? Then why are you here?...I mean don't they have a school for magic over there?"

Harry swore he saw a flicker of emotion pass before her eyes before she smiled bitterly. "My parents died at Lord Voldemort's hand. Them, and my twin brother. I was out with some friends, and survived. My grandfather lives in London, so I moved over here."

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like."

The girl just shrugged.

"Wait…did you just say Voldemort's name? And how did you know I was a seventh year?"

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. One of the first lessons I was taught from my father….you're age? You're too old to be below sixth year, and you're a quidditch captain according to that badge you're wearing. Lucky guess, I suppose."

"Wow. I'm impressed…I'm Harry Potter by the way."

The girl, or Zarah, raised a delicate eyebrow: "I know".

Harry eyed the girl. There was something about her, something that reminded him of someone. He just couldn't remember who. Was it the way she talked? The way she held herself? No…it was something different, something he couldn't put his finger one….but he like her. And he didn't know why. There was something about her that was mysterious, like she was hiding something. And then there was something else….like there was a sorrow that was always with her. Interesting. He'd have to find out more about this girl.

He sighed. This would be a long train ride without conversation.

" Ummm….so…d'you play quidditch?"

The girl…no, Zarah, smirked softly. "You bet I do. One of the best at my old school. I play seeker, though I'm a pretty damn good chaser too. You?"

"Potter thinks he can be a good seeker, but he usually ends up swallowing the snitch instead of catching it."

Zarah looked up with raised eyebrows, a small smirk forming on her lips. There, in the doorway, stood a tall lean boy with a pointed face and white blond hair, flanked by two…gorillas, for lack of better words. So this was the famous Draco Malfoy. He was also part of the plan. And pretty damn good looking part of it too.

"Draco Malfoy. You want to be careful who you make friends with, you know. Some can be…shall we say, less than appealing."

"Zarah Ev-Hawkins. Zarah Hawkins. I'm sure I can trust your judgement of friends, considering the fine one's you've made yourself." She replied smirking, while really mentally cursing herself for nearly giving away her real name. That was definitively not part of the plan.

"Hawkins? Hawkins, as in the elite pureblood Hawkins family from New York?"

"The one and only"

Harry turned to look at Malfoy, mentally cursing himself for not doing research on rich American purebloods. His face was absolutely priceless.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hawkins, the Malfoy name is honoured to have come into acquaintance with such a family."

Zarah smirked. Maybe this little escapade wouldn't be such a pain in the ass after all. "Well, the Hawkins's pride themselves in associating themselves with only the best. Good day, Mr. Malfoy, Harry. I dare say, I'll be seeing you both again."

Draco watched the black haired beauty swirl out of the compartment with a small frown. A Hawkins….that was impressive. Almost more impressive than a Malfoy. And a beautiful Hawkins at that. He would definitely need to tell Father about that, he would be interested. Very interested indeed. In the mean time, it would be best if he stayed close to the girl, maybe tried to lure her into his Slytherin ways. She was mysterious though, and would be harder to crack than any other girl. He smirked. A challenge. He loved a challenge. But in the meantime, getting out of the compartment where Potter was staring dumbly at the spot where Zarah had just left would probably be better. With that, he smirked at Potter and left, striding down the train in hopes of finding Pansy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Zarah looked around the great hall, admiring the beautiful golden goblets and starry night sky. It wasn't home, but it was still a pretty good looking place. She knew that in a matter of moments, she would be sorted into a house, and would be accepted by one of those long tables. At least she wouldn't have to put up with bratty little eleven year olds anymore. Hell, if she ended up where she thought she'd be, the little ones wouldn't dare ever even try to talk to her ever again. Especially the Creevey brat with his stupid camera. Poor little guy fell into the lake, just like his brother.

According to her father, there were four houses: Ravenclaw, aka the house of The Half-Wits, Hufflepuff, house of Dunderheads, Gryffindor, House full of people who all want to die to help Harry Potter, and Slytherin, House of the Noble. So, basically, she was expected to get into Slytherin. Or be severely injured, whichever one suited her best. And that really did not leave an option. Plus, Slytherin didn't seem so bad…just because there house symbol was a snake and half of them were miniature Deatheathers didn't mean anything. Plus, her father had been in Slytherin. And that meant she would have to be in Slytherin too, whether she wanted to be or not.

……………………………………………

Harry sat down between Ginny and Ron at the Gryffindor table. It turned out that when you're Head Girl, you get the privilege of welcoming the new students to Hogwarts. So Hermione wasn't going to be sitting with them for awhile. Actually, since Hermione was now Head Girl, she wouldn't be spending much time with them at all. Which wasn't at all good for Harry, or for Ron come to think of it. For one thing, Ron might actually fail potions. For another, Hermione was kind of like his sister that he never had. She was always there to help him with homework, Snape, Voldemort, or even his love life. Hell, without her, he might not have made it through these last couple of years.

There was always Ginny though. And Ron was still there. He was after all, his best mate. And even though he had his flaws, (like his eating habits), he had pretty much always been there for him. Plus, Hermione couldn't play Quidditch to save her life.

"Hey Harry! How was you're summer?"

Harry looked up and grinned at the Irish boy. He and Seamus had finally gotten over their differences and were actually pretty good friends.

"Fair enough. Too bad about the Quidditch World Cup, though. I can't believe the Tornados won."

"It was all because Troy injured himself. When you lose your best chaser, you lose everything. Shame you couldn't make the game. It was amazing, mam managed to us get box seats!..Anyways, I got to run, Parvati calls."

Parvati was Seamus' girl of the week. It wouldn't be long before he was off with some other pretty girl. Then again, Parvati might dump him. She was known as one to get bored very easily. It would definitely be interesting while they were together though. Two people famous for cheating with other people after a day of dating them who had decided to date each other.

Harry sighed, running his had trough his messy hair. Suddenly he felt a wave of the familiar depression take hold of him again. Ron, who was ignoring him, was chatting a pretty sixth year. On his left, Ginny was talking to Dean. They were rumoured to be an item, though neither of them would openly admit it. Something bothered him about that. It wasn't that he didn't Dean; it was just that he didn't like Dean with Ginny together as a couple…and he couldn't figure out why. He sighed again. He seemed to be the only one without some one to talk to. This was going to be a lonely year.

…………………………………………….

"Draco? Draco, come on, if we don't get in the great hall soon, we won't get a good seat. I want to be as far away as Theo as I can. I owe him 10 galleons for losing a bet, and he won't leave me along."

Draco mentally groaned, but allowed himself to be steered over to the Slytherin table by Pansy. She, courtesy of orders from his father, had been his girlfriend ever since the beginning of the holidays. The Parkinsons were a good alliance, and had been friends of the Malfoy's for hundreds of years. Therefore, he and Pansy were practically written off as married. Her mother, his mother, their mothers all agreed. Three weeks after school ended, Pansy would become Mrs. Draco Malfoy. The thought alone was enough to make his think about leaving the country.

In the mean time though, he was going to enjoy every moment of his last year. Third year prefects barely got any work, since most of it got dumped on the measly little fifth years. Actually, more like third year Slytherin prefects didn't get any work. They just got the younger years to do their work for them. However, they still got the advantage of giving detentions, using the prefect bathrooms, and shoving it in Potter's face that he wasn't good enough to be one. Draco just hoped that Weasel hadn't been made Head Boy. Salazar Slytherin would be rolling over in his grave if he heard that two Weasleys had been made Head Boys in less than ten years.

Draco was actually happy that he wasn't Head Boy. Head Boys had to be helpful to the little brats, and had to actually pretend to give a damn about school events. He might even have to be civil to the Mudblood Granger, since she was probably Head Girl. Plus, it would put his whole have-the-best-year-of- his-life-before-being-tied-down-to-ugly-annoying-witch scheme to hell.

Maybe, just maybe, if he was lucky, he could get out of the stupid marriage. There was only two ways to do that though: either commit suicide and hope the in his next life he doesn't know anyone by the name of Pansy Parkinson, or find a pureblood witch that his father thought was more suitable than Pansy. It looked like he was going to have a pretty short life.

"Draky? Are you listening to me Draky? You should really pay more attention to me. After all, I am going to be your wife in less than a year!"

Draco turned around and attempted a somewhat nice smile which turned into looking more like an ugly grimace.

"I can't talk to you right now, Pansy. I mean honestly. The sorting is about to begin, and you know that I like to watch it."

Draco smirked slightly. Like he would give a damn if all the first years dropped dead right now. Still, the sorting did have its good points. For one thing, he would get to see were the Hawkins girl would get sorted. For another, it was fun to watch the little mongrels squirm.

"Kyle, Anderson"

"GRYFFINDOR." Poor kid. You get sorted into Gryffindor, and you might as well accept an early death for a worthless cause. He yawned, applauding lazily whenever someone got sorted into Slytherin.

"Creevey, Sean"

"GRYFFINDOR" Mordred. Another Creevey. The eldest one had tried to take a picture of him on his broom stick last year. Poor kid was in the hospital for a week.

"Zabini, Alia."

"SLYTHERIN". No surprise there. He had met Blaise's little sister once. Chip off the Zabini block if there ever was one. Beautiful, sly, intelligent, and a certain knack for getting what she wanted.

"Welcome, welcome to a new term at Hogwarts. Before you all fill your empty stomachs, I have an announcement to make. Hogwarts has accepted a student from America. Will you all please join me in welcoming Zarah Hawkins to our school."

A round of muttering went around the Great Hall. The male population of the school immediately started figuring ways to win her over. All were trying to remember if Hogwarts had ever accepted a foreign student. Draco rolled his eyes and waited for Dumbledore to continue.

"She moved from the United States of America over the summer. It is unusual for a student to be sorted in her seventh year, but we have decided that, considering all things, it would be wise for all to be integrated in our four houses."

Draco watched as Zarah stepped forward. Her face hadn't betrayed any emotion throughout Dumbledore's speech. Her face was masked with only a small smirk. Sure signs of a Slytherin. Maybe this year wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be.

…………………………………….

Zarah mentally groaned throughout Dumbledore's speech. She hated being in the spotlight, and he was basically shoving her into it. She had told him plenty of times not to introduce her, because it would just make it scene. Blasted man. Every time, he had just chuckled and did that eye twinkle thing that she had never figured out how to do.

Zarah marched forward and placed the hat on her hair. Stupid thing fell right down to her eyes. It was probably making her look ugly and was most certainly messing up her hair.

"Hmmmm….what have we here? You're like your mother you know…even though you try to be like your father. Full of courage, and not afraid to stand up for yourself, or the ones you love. Sure signs of a Gryffindor. No? You would do well there you know, you could escape the dark side forever. It's your choice though. I could put you in Slytherin…you are like your father in that respect… you both have far too much ambition for one person. But you don't really want to go there either now, do you? Well, that only leaves me one choice…better be…

"RAVENCLAW"

The third table on Zarah's right exploded into applause. The males were giving each other high fives, and the girls were already gossiping. Zarah froze on the spot before slowly trudging towards the mass of blue and bronze. Ravenclaw. Shit. Her father was going to kill her.

…………………………………………

Zarah yawned sleepily, blinking slowly, and sat up. Then froze. Last night came shooting back to her. It wasn't that Ravenclaw dorms were bad. In fact, they were quite nice. It turned that it was tradition for every seventh year Raveclaw to add an improvement to the dorms before they left. The result was quite spectacular. Windows were charmed to only let in a certain amount of light in, depending on the time of day. Everyone slept in kind size beds, with great sheets. Each dorm even had its own bath, modeled after the one in the prefects' washroom. In fact, it was nicer that her old room.

It wasn't that her dorm mates weren't nice either. Padma Patil had shown her around the dorm, giving away all the secret passage ways to the kitchens, or to certain classrooms. Sharon Parks had even lent her a set of school robes so that she could wait a day until getting a pair for herself. And Rachael, Melanie, and Teal had spent a good two hours giving her tips on which boys to date and which boys to stay way around from. According to them, Draco Malfoy was the best looking, with Harry Potter trailing him. But Harry Potter was ten times nicer, and Draco Malfoy was a pain in the ass.

It was that she was going to be so dead when her father got her alone. The effect of the last duel she had had with him still weren't totally gone. It had taken a week to get rid of a nasty bruise on her leg. And the ones on her upper arms were still there. Not that he purposely hit her. He just wasn't afraid to use violent spells that would knock her against walls, or against the ground.

She checked her watch, flinging herself out of bed when she saw the time. She had an hour to go for her run before her dorm mates would wake up. And she needed to go for a run.

Running was Zarah's gateway away from the stress of her life. When you run, there are no problems, no fathers, no plans, only you and nature. And nothing was going to get in the way of that.

………………………………………….

Zarah walked into the Great Hall and sat at the Ravenclaw table. She grimaced slightly at what she was wearing. Why Hogwarts had to have such ugly uniforms she had no idea. The bronze stripes, which looked more like puke brown in this light, clashed with the dark navy ones. She grimaced again. At least Ravenclaw colours were better than the Gryffindors. The other four girls were still sleeping…more like sleeping and/or preening.

"Ms. Hawkins! So glad to see you again!"

She pasted a smile on her face and turned towards Flitwick. She sighed, short, cheery, Flitwick was not who she had expected to be her Head of House.

"Now, how about we fix you up a schedule. According to your father, you would like to try for a NEWT in Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and, of course Potions!"

She grimaced slightly. No, she would not like to do those subjects, but what choice did she have?

"Thanks Professor, that would be great."

"No problem my dear, no problem at all. Now, it might be a little hard to give you all of these classes at once. So, would you mind if I gave you Care of Magical Creatures with the Gryffindors, and Study of Ancient Runes with the Slytherins? The rest of your classes would have at least half the class comprised of Ravenclaws, but I'm afraid that not all of the Ravenclaws are as ambitious as you are."

"It's fine professor. I'm new anyway, so I don't think the usual house rivalry will apply."

"Excellent, my dear, excellent. Well, here you are. And your first class is double potions. All four of the houses are in this class, since Professor Snape is so picky."

"I know. I'm sure I'll do fine. Thank you again."

Zarah grimaced. Double potions, first thing. She had no luck at all.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Harry drearily picked up his spoon full of porridge. Hermione had been busy with her Head Girl Duties, and Ron had been busy…entertaining, for lack of better word, so he had basically been left alone last night. And he hadn't really felt like talking to anyone else when they seemed so happy without him. He could have talked to Neville, but he was with Amy, a cute sixth year Hufflepuff, and he hadn't wanted to interrupt him when they were getting so close to finally going out. And Ginny and Dean were out of the question, since he always felt a weird prickling of anger whenever he was around them together.

So instead he had spent the night in the library. It was almost sad. Instead of enjoying his first night back at Hogwarts, which was basically his real home, he had spent it curled up with a book. Hell, it felt like he had switched personalities with Hermione. Then again, she still spent about half her life in the library. Harry didn't know why, but he was very interested in Zarah Hawkins. Something about her pulled him towards her. It wasn't attraction; although he had to admit that she was beautiful…it was something else. Something he couldn't really pinpoint.

Harry had decided to find out about her family. Sure, it was a little creepy, he had to admit that, but it was either that, or go crazy wondering who she was. It turned out that the Hawkins were one of the most elite American families. Most of them were Pureblood, although he had found that some married Half-bloods, or even Muggleborns. They weren't openly for Voldemort, although it was rumoured that a certain branch of the family was very close to the Dark Arts. Likewise, they weren't openly against Voldemort, but once again, it was rumoured that another branch of the family was very anti- Voldemort.

The Hawkins were well known business owners, famous for their restaurants and clothing lines. Most of them were filthy rich and owned many properties across the continents. They had held some of the most elaborate balls, and formal outings of the century. They kept connections with all the right people, although they were also known to hold very strong grudges against those who double-crossed them. They were also very powerful. Other than a slight strain of insanity that tended to appear every third generation or so, they were known to be one of the most prominent wizarding families in the world. Hell, they probably even topped the Malfoy's.

So he wondered why Zarah had chosen to come to England. Because according to the book, she had relatives popping up all over the United States. It was true, her maternal grandfather did reside in London, but still...why go across a continent when you can just move two blocks down the street?

"Potter? Will you please pay attention Potter! I can't have you keeping me all day. I've still got to hand out schedules to half the House. I'll ask you again then. You have requested to take Arithmancy, Study of Ancienct Runes, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures Charms and Transfiguration, yes?"

Harry looked up and spotted Professor McGonagall frowning down at him severely. Her mouth was getting thinner and thinner by the second.

"Sorry Professor. Um, yah, that sounds good."

She tapped a piece of blank parchment, and suddenly it was full of details about his courses.

"Here you are then. I have to say, I was very pleased that you managed to achieve such excellent Arithmancy, and Study of Ancient Runes marks, very pleased indeed Potter. You'll be having a busy year with this lot though. NEWT year is always the hardest. Each teacher only expects the best from their pupils. An of course, there is always the NEWT project that must be completed. You best be careful to manage your time carefully Potter. I've grown quite fond of seeing the Quidditch Trophy in my office."

Harry frowned, looking at his schedule. It was full to the brim with courses, leaving him very few spare periods. There seemed to be more classes this year for every subject than last year. It would be extremely hard to manage the Quidditch team. Still, last year he had picked up two subjects last year, and managed to conduct the Gryffindor Quidditch team to win the Quidditch Cup, so he supposed he'd manage.

"Harry! I'm so sorry about last night. There was just so much to do! I never knew that being Head Girl was such a huge responsibility."

Harry grinned down at the petite Gryffindor. "It's fine Hermione. Say, who's Head Boy? Not Malfoy, is it?"

"No, thank goodness. It's Terry Boot, from Ravenclaw, you know. Well, I'm very glad it's him. He's and excellent worker, and doesn't treat me like scum. Anyways, we've got to run, Harry. It's double Potions first thing, and Snape would probably like nothing better than to put you in detention on your first day."

Harry groaned loudly. He had almost forgotten about Snape. Snape had definitively not gotten better in the last few years. In fact, he had only seemed to redouble his efforts to make Harry feel like an extremely stupid child every class. What a way to start a year.

…………………………………………

Draco opened his book, trying to ignore Pansy's incessant whining. How she had ever managed to get an O on her Potions OWL was beyond him. She never seemed to do any work…except when it came to finding out about gossip, and trying to fix her appearance. Trying being the key word. She had been waiting for him this morning at the foot of the boys' staircase, and had immediately latched on to him from there. It had been like a Daymare, if there were such thing. And at breakfast, when Snape had been handing out schedules, she had insisted on taking every course that 'Darling Draky' was taking. Thank god she was only smart enough to get into three of them.

He had taken all the courses that a Malfoy heir was expected to take. There had been the usual ones: Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Herbology. Defense against the Dark Arts too, to keep up appearances. Father had warned him that the Dark Lord did not want the Ministry suspecting them any more than they had too. So Defense Against the Dark Arts was mandatory, even though it was being taught by a Werewolf who just happened to practically worship Saint Potter. Draco rolled his eyes. Him and the rest of the bloody Gryffindors.

He shut his book closed as Snape swept into the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"Before we start today's class, I think I must remind you that you will be sitting one of your most challenging exams of your life at the end of June. Incapable though some of you are, I expect all my NEWT students to pass with the high standard that I have come to expect from them. After those exams, you and I may never have to meet again. However, there is still a year until that happy moment comes, and until then, you will all be expected to put your best effort for every one of my classes. There are not to be any excuses. Also, as you know, there is a project that must be completed in order to pass this course. In the past, I have always made this a group project, and I do not plan on changing my course of action."

Snape's cold black eyes swept the room. Draco grinned as his glittering eyes seemed to bore into Potter's.

"I have selected groups in order to make this process fair. Be warned, there will be no changing of these groups. This project will account for a major percent of your mark. You will be required to brew a certain potion over the course of several months, and write a full report on it. I suggest you take extra care in making them, as you will be the testers of them at the end of the time. Therefore, I require that you start with four of five samples, as you will probably complete most of them incorrectly. I will spare very little class time for your project, so you will be working mostly outside of class. Fail this task, and I will not allow you to take this exam. In essence, you will automatically fail this course. You have been warned."

Draco grinned slightly as Snape did that smirking-without-moving-any-other-part-of-his-face-thing that he was so good at. Always the theatrics, Snape was. He loved scaring the Gryffindors.

"Macmillan, Bones"

"Nott, Parkinson" Draco nearly laughed. It was comment knowledge that Nott and Pansy were the two stupidest people in the class. He would be very surprised if they passed the course.

"Granger, Boot" Lucky Mudblood, getting pared with Boot. Boot was a decent guy, for all that he was a Half-Blood, and was usually more than willing to do Draco's share of the project for a few extra galleons.

"Zabini, Potter" Not that was a paring that was sure to end in disaster. Probably why Snape had put them together. He had never really like Blaise, most likely because of what Blaise's father had done to him in school. He smirked. Potter looked like he was going to be sick.

"Abott, Patil"

"Hawkins, Malfoy"

Draco looked up sharply, meeting Zarah's green eyes. She smirked slightly at him, raising one of her dark eyebrows. He smirked back, nodding.

"I will be passing around the potions that you are to complete. I will be giving you this class to work with your partner, so that you can figure ingredients, and such not. If I find that you are wasting your time, then you will be given detention. Remember, I will not always be so generous with my class time."

Draco grinned as Zarah walked over.

"Ravenclaw, huh? I had thought that you'd be a Slytherin for sure."

She grinned back. "I was just as surprised as you were. That does give me some advantages though."

"So there are some advantages to being in the Eagle's house?"

"Sure. For one thing, I can now try out for Seeker. I heard that the last one, Chang or whatever her name was, left. Couldn't do that in Slytherin, now could I? I've heard that there's another one. And Ravenclaw has way nicer dorms."

Draco was unwilling impressed. He had no idea how she had found out that he was Slytherin Seeker, or that Ravenclaw need a new one, but he had to admit that finding that out was impressive.

"You've never even seen the Slytherin dorms."

"Actually, I have. It's in the dungeons. Dark, green. Password Salazar, Great and Cunning Pureblood."

Now Draco was really impressed. It was one thing to know some useful information. It was another thing to know what the where the Slytherin Room was, what it looked like, and what its password was after only being in the castle for one night. That was almost scary.

"Mr. Malfoy, and Mrs. Hawkins. I have decided to give you two the potion Veritaserum. It is one of the more difficult potions, and will take much more care and attention than any usual ones. However, you two are two of the stop students in this school, and I trust that you can handle something slightly more…challenging. You will have seven months to complete this potion, as it takes six moons to develop. I suggest that you start as soon as possible."

Draco watched as Snape walked away to pick on Potter and Zabini. It was common knowledge that Veritaserum was incredibly hard to make. Only a select few highly skilled Potions Masters could manage it. He sighed and opened his Advanced Potions book. There is was, taking up six pages of instructions. There really were some odd ingredients. He, for one, had no clue where he was going to get Meteorite Powder, or what Apothecary would sell him Hungarian Horntail venom. Damn Snape for giving him such a hard, finicky potion. Between him and Pansy, his best year of his life scheme was just about ruined.

Draco groaned as the bell rung. He was basically doomed to fail potions.

"Well, I suppose we should get started on this just about now. I have some contacts who could probably get me some of the er, more special products. How about meeting me after classes today in the library so that we can make a list of who gets what, where we're going to make this, and how much of each thing we're going to need? You know that sort of thing. It's not a really hard potion; it just takes one hell of a lot of time to stew. Hate to break it to you, but you and I will be spending a lot of time stirring it. Anyway, got to go, Charms is in fifteen, and I hate being late. But see you after class, right?"

Draco stared at her as she flew out the room. That girl was either smoking something really strong, or she was just plan crazy. There was no way you could be that optimistic after receiving an assignment like that. He signed, and packed up his things quickly. He grabbed his bag, and sprinted out the room, hoping not to be late to his first Transfiguration class, not noticing that he had, in fact, passed Zarah on his way out, and that she was heading back into the class.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Father."

"Zarah."

There was a long moment of tense silence as the two surveyed each other. Then-

"You're in Ravenclaw."

The voice portrayed no emotion, but the black eyes glittered dangerously.

"You always forget I'm half my mother."

The man traced the slight hook in the girl's nose with a long white finger.

"You're half mine too."

There was another long silence as the wary green eyes met the inky black ones.

"I think I need to remind you once again that I do not accept failures, Zarah." The silky voice sent a slight tremor down the girl's back. That only meant one thing.

"_Renvardio Murtantia."_

There was a slight moan as the girl crashed into the wall, falling to collapse at her father's feet. The green eyes shone with malice.

"You're as bad as the Dark Lord."

The black eyes flashed with anger. He forced the girl's chin to tilt up so that she was looking straight into his eyes and whispered: "Never, ever accuse me of that. The Dark Lord uses pain to punish. I use it to teach. The Dark Lord cares nothing for his people. I do."

The girl forced herself to stand up. "You never seem like you do."

There was another long silence as once again, black met green.

"I've got to go to class. I don't want to be late for Charms. Flitwick is, after all, my Head of House. He, at least, cares a bit about me."

The man sneered elegantly. "Be sure to be on time for you lessons tomorrow. You know I hate to be kept waiting."

She was nearly out the door before he called out again. "Here. Drink this. It will take away some of the effects."

The girl turned around, and grabbed the potion. She sniffed the contents for a few moments. He was known to give her poisons instead of antidotes when he was really angry. Finally she gulped the contents down, letting out a slight shudder.

"Like you really care."

Severus Snape glared at his daughter's back as she limped out the room.

…………………………………………

Zarah moaned slightly as she sank into her chair at the library. After her little rendezvous with her father, her day hadn't gotten any better. It was true; the potion had taken effect, and had helped greatly. But he had somehow charmed it so that the relief only lasted for four hours. She had been in the middle of answering a question in Arithmancy when the numbness had suddenly worn off. Smart Bastard.

Howgarts divided its days into seven periods. Arithmancy had been number five. It hadn't been so bad…there was no physical work, so the pain was pretty easy to ignore. Defence Against the Dark Arts, on the other hand, was a nightmare. Lupin, for some reason, liked to start the term with a practical lesson. By the end of the class, it had been a true miracle that she'd been standing.

"Hey!"

Zarah looked up and smirked as Draco strode towards her. Rule number one from her father: Never show any weakness. People thrive on weakness. You either look strong or you don't survive. It had taken her years to master, but Zarah could withstand excruciating pain and still hold up a reasonable facade. Courtesy of her father, of course, and his "Lessons".

"You're late."

"Didn't mean to be. I had to go over some stuff with Boot. We're doing our Transfiguration project together."

"Really? What did McGonagall give you?"

"Same as everyone else. Transfigure a wooded area into a house. Has to be fully functional, as in equipped with food, and places to sleep. Stupid Muggle Study assignment is to actually live in the house for a month. We even have to give them a pet. A muggle pet." He sneered elegantly. "I didn't even know Mudbloods were smart enough to look after pets."

Zarah let out a laugh. "You'd be surprised what Muggles can do. Charms assignment is worse though. I've got to make a piece of land Unplottable. That will take one hell of a lot of work."

"I got the Muggle-repelling Charm. Have to make part of the Quidditch pitch so that Muggles can't go there. Dumbledore is going to let down the wards, and we'll have to put them up again. The fool doesn't realise that I can just go there and test the wards myself. The charm does have a plus side though. Knowing it will prepare me for when I own the Manor."

"Are you really that against Muggles?"

Zarah swore she saw a flash of emotion passed across Draco's face. "It's what the Malfoys believe in. And I stand with my family. You of all people should understand that, being a Hawkins yourself."

Zarah raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose we should get started."

"Yah, I can't take too long. Slytherin has Quidditch tryouts. Got to be there since I'm Captain."

"Starting on the first full day of school? Someone really wants to beat somebody else."

Draco scowled in retort. Zarah smirked. He looked cute when he was scowling.

"Well, I've had a look at the potion. It takes a month of adding ingredients before its ready to start to stew. And then it's going to take a bit less than five months to stew. So, if we take maybe two weeks to get all the ingredients, then maybe another week to prepare and preserve the ingredients, we'd have a month to make the potion, which is perfect timing. And then there'd by a week or so to write the final bit of the report. Of couse, we'd have to work on that as we go along. Sounds good?"

Draco smirked. "Maybe the Sorting Hat was right to put you in Ravenclaw after all."

She made a face at him, and tossed him a list. "I've got some contacts in America that can get me the Meteorite Powder, and the Hungarian Horntail Venom. If you can get the ingredients that are left, then we're golden."

Draco glanced down at the list. Boomslang skin, Dragon blood, Daisy roots…nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Fine. We're we going to brew it though? Unless Ms. Perfect has already figured out that too."

Zarah smirked back at him. "I figure we could ask Snape if we could borrow an extra classroom down in the dungeons. There's bound to be something. I mean, he's been handing out the same assignments for years…If all else fails, there is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"Do you even know who Moaning Myrtle is? She'd drive us nuts if we were there."

"Just gives us more incentive to find somewhere else then, doesn't it? Preferably somewhere that doesn't have any ghosts, or water for that mater.

Draco scowled again. "Fin then, Ravenclaw. I've got to run. But meet back here in a week?"

"Only if you can find the right ingredients, Slytherin."

Draco smirked a bit, knowing that if either of them were going to have problems, it was her.

"Speak for yourself."

Zarah watched as the tall blond waltzed out of the room. He wouldn't be as hard to crack as she thought he'd be. For one thing, he was not his father. She had met Lucius Malfoy once, when he had come over to talk with her father. She had only been six, and had been scared out of her wits. Lucius Malfoy had no heart, only a lump of stone. Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, did have a heart, even if he didn't know how to use it. She would just have to teach him how.

……………………………………….

Harry groaned as he watched his two best friends bicker. They were at it again. It was only the third day of school, and they were already back to the same stupid fight. It had all started in fifth year, when Ron had found out that Hermione was still writing to Krum. He had immediately gotten jealous, even though Hermione insisted that they were just friends. The next day, she had found Ron snogging Parvati Patil. In revenge, she had found Micheal Corner, who Ginny had broken up with by then, and had snogged him right in front of Ron at dinner.

And it had only gotten worse from there. All of last year, they had been trying to outdo each other. It had only ended at the end of the year when Harry had snapped and told them to yell at each other when he wasn't around. There had been two wonderful months of peace while he was at the Dursleys, and Harry had almost believed that they could all go back to the way things were before the who stupid thing had happened. But he supposed that he shouldn't have hoped for the impossible.

Last night, he and Ron had gone to visit Hermione at her new quarters. When they got there however, they had found Hermione and Terry Boot laughing and joking on the couch. Ron's ears had turned redder and redder until he had just turned around and stormed out of the room. This morning he and Hermione had come down to find Ron glued to Lavender.

Harry had half a mind just to tell them both to get a room. Either that, or send them both love letters confessing their undying love to each other. Only problem with that was that Hermione would probably recognize that it wasn't Ron's handwriting. Some times she was too smart for her own good.

"Gather roun', gather roun'! Dumbledore said I to start by telling you all 'bout yer project 'cause it's right important for you if yer going ta pass this course! Yeh all know that the seventh years are expected ta do 'n assignment. Well, have I got a treat for you! Yer goin' ta be takin' care of a baby creature! I've got 'em emported from all o'er the world. So, if yeh'll just get into groups then, an' I can give yeh yer creature!

Harry looked over expectantly at Ron, but he was clearly paring with Lavender. He sighed, and turned towards Hermione, but it looked like she would be paring with Terry Boot. He sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. Great. He was going to be the only one in the class without a partner.

"Hey, do you have a partner? Because you're the only person I know since this is supposed to be a Gryffindor class. There wasn't room on my schedule for me to be in the Ravenclaw one."

Harry whirled around and smiled at the raven beauty.

"Sure."

"So I saw you in Potions the other day…You looked really happy with your partner."

Harry grimaced. "Yah, Snape has this thing against me. Something about how my dad tormented him at school. He doesn't get that I'm not my dad, so he won't give me a chance."

"That sucks…what potion did you get?"

"Amortentia. Snape knows that Zabini and I could never agree on a simple potion, let alone a complicated Love Potion. Snape really wants me to fail. He was really angry that I got into it in the first place. You?"

"Veritaserum."

"Ouch. Snape is giving really hard ones this year. He gave Hermione and Terry Wolfsbane. I guess I'm lucky there. Amortentia is a lot easier than those two."

He spotted Hagrid moving towards them.

"Allo Harry! I've saved ya up a real special one. Got it me self from Romania. I was real lucky, 'cause these 'r really rare. But Charlie said that his mother didn' want 'er 'cause she was a runt. There a bit dangerous some of the time. But I thought that 'cause you had past experience with 'em, that you an' Ron would be just fine. Dumbledore made a few exceptions ta the rules ta allow 'er in."

Harry stared at the large crate the Hagrid and suddenly felt his stomach plummet slightly. If Hagrid thought that this creature was dangerous, then he had no idea how dangerous it would actually be. He watched as Hagrid took the lid of the book and leaned over the side.

"Ain't she a beauty!"

Harry leaned forward and felt his stomach drop. There, sitting in bottom of the crate, happily tearing apart some type of green fish, was a scaly black creature that had two yellow eyes and a miniature spiked tail. He was starring at a baby Hungarian Horntail.

Zarah leaned forward with a great deal of interest.

"How old is she Hagrid?"

"Zarah! I didn' know yer were back! Why, I haven't seen ya since ye was a wee little thing! Yer were just moving ta America then, and ya had come down ter say goodbye to yer unicorn. I'm afraid ta say that she left after you was gone, poor heartbroken creature. Why, yer all grown up! Shame ya didn' get yer mother's hair, it was the most beautiful color…but yeh get her eyes."

"Thanks, Hagrid," She replied, giving him a look that clearly said to not say anything more. Harry glanced at her strangely, but Hagrid just beamed.

"Well, she's three months old and in right good condition, 'cept fer being a litt'e small fer her age. So, yeh two get ta take care of her fer the next six months! I'll be takin' looks at her condition every couple o' days, but I'm sure yeh'll do just fine. Anyways, got to run! Plenty more babies to hand out!"

Harry stared after Hagrid as he left. He never seemed to cease to amaze him. He sighed, and turned towards Zarah.

"So…any idea how we're going to manage this?"

"Well, we can leave her here for now I guess. But were going to have to make her a home in the Forbidden Forest. Maybe put up some wards so that she can't escape. And we need to find out what she eats, for starters. And what she needs, and how quickly she'll grow."

Harry and Zarah traded identical grimaces.

"Maybe we could meet in the library some time? I doubt our textbooks have anything about the proper handling of Hungarian Horntails. And somehow I also doubt that she's going to be eating chicken for dinner."

"What is that stuff that she's eating anyhow?

Zarah peered into the crate once more. "I have absolutely no idea."

"Er-do we have to give her a name?"

Zarah laughed loudly, causing the dragon to glare up at her.

"Only if we want. We can add that to our list of things we've got to do."

Harry grinned at her. "I've always like the name Jasmine."

Zarah grimaced as the strong smell of dragon dung wafted into the air.

"Somehow, I doubt that would be appropriate."

Harry let out a laugh. He sighed as the bell rang. He had just begun to enjoy himself.

"I'm sure we'll figure out something. Meet me at the library tonight?"

"Sorry, I can't. I promised I'd meet someone else. But, maybe tomorrow night?"

"Sure…say, seven oclock?"

"Sounds good. Bye!"

Harry watched her go, and realised with a sudden jolt, that he had just let out his first laugh in many months.


End file.
